Constantine EPs Tease Newcastle Visitors, More Mythology and the Truth About Chas: 'He Is Not Immortal'

If you’ve been waiting for NBC’s Constantine to pull the trigger on its comic-book mythology — hello, Newcastle Gang aficionados! — the NBC series’ creators think you’ll be very happy with Friday’s episode.

The hour introduces Jonjo O’Neill (The Fall) as Gary Lester, one of Constantine’s Newcastle chums who was involved in little Astra’s death and damnation. When Gary accidentally unleashes a potent demon upon the good people of Georgia, John winds up reuniting with his old pal.

If the plot sounds familiar to readers of D.C. comics, that’s because the story is “literally ripped from the pages of Hellblazer, from the first issue,” Daniel Cerone, executive producer and showrunner, says during a conference call with reporters.

“It’s a fantastic story that translated really well to screen,” he adds. “It’s our show at its pinnacle. It’s really set a bar of everything we hoped this should could be and could do.”

The EPs also dished about what other familiar characters are on their way to the primetime drama, as well as how scary is too scary for the Peacock Net (the answer may surprise you) and whether we’re likely to see Liv ever again. Read on for the best bits.

HOMECOMING WEEKS | Cerone and Goyer expanded on what star Matt Ryan told TVLine earlier in the month: A bunch of characters from Hellblazer are poised to show up in the coming weeks. In addition to the Newcastle crew, there’s Dr. Thirteen and Felix Faust — “You’re gonna meet them all,” Cerone promised. “We’re trying to present the best of both worlds in terms of ongoing mythology… wrapped around weekly stories the viewers can hook into.”

CHAS’ MANY RETURNS | Remember how Chas died — then came back to life — in the series’ premiere? “For some reason, people started translating that to the idea that he’s immortal,” Cerone said. “We promise you: He is not immortal. There’s a very good reason that he’s coming back to life, and the only spoiler I will give you is that these lives are not infinite.” The EP added that an upcoming, flashback-filled episode will introduce Chas’ estranged wife and daughter.

BIGGER! MORE! | Both men said that NBC hadn’t censored one moment of the scary, gory drama; in fact, the Peacock Net has taken the opposite approach. “Every step of the way… be it in the outline phase of the scripts or the cuts that the network were seeing, they’re like, ‘Go further,'” Cerone said. “I don’t know if I could think of any instance in which they said, ‘Tone it down,'” Goyer added.

NEVER SAY NEVER | It seems like there’s no bad blood between Lucy Griffiths — whose character, Liv, was written out after the pilot — and the series’ Powers That Be. “David and I received a lovely email from Lucy… right before we aired,” Cerone says. “If there’s an organic reason to bring [Liv] back into the story, we’d love to.”

Well, I think there are plenty of organic ways to bring Liv back into the show. Not too hard considering the main characters are hanging out in her father’s place and using her father’s map. They literally turned her character into objects. Horrible. I’ve been trying to get into the show without her, but I’m kind of bored to be honest. Maybe if they bring her back in, I’d be more interested.

I really am starting to love this show. Not perfect, definitely not the ideal adaptation of Hellblazer… but it’s FUN. Plus, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m gonna enjoy the high number of supernatural, heavily occult shows on broadcast right now, for as long as it lasts. This is a good way to end the work week on Friday, and then there’s Sleepy Hollow on Mondays, so it’s a nice bookend to the week that I enjoy.

I’m really hoping that the ratings will go up AT LEAST a tenth tonight, if not two tenths… Maybe not likely, but fingers crossed. I’d love to get a full season.

“I don’t know if I could think of any instance in which they said, ‘Tone it down’”

Which is why John Constantine behaves completely out of character (which is to say, ridiculously toned down) at the end of the episode. Reduced from complete and utter asshat (to borrow a frequently used TV euphemism) to ‘sneaky bastard,’ and an apologetic one at that.

It didn’t totally derail the ep, but it cut it down a few notches just when I thought it was beginning to get it right.

The leaked cut of the pilot was pretty bad – and it didn’t favor Liv or the angel. The aired recut was much, much better for both characters. The recast of the female lead was a good call, but after seeing the recut of the pilot, I think I’d be OK with a visit (or a few) from Liv. I think she just needed better writing and a stronger directing hand.

My problem with this show is it doesnt feel like a comic book on TV…it doesnt give me that feeling i get when i watch Arrow or The Flash or even when i watched Smallville. It doesnt have its own unique tone (for better or worse) like SHIELD or Sleepy Hallow which has demons/magic/witches/etc…but its all deeper, its realer, its got fantastic depth and is truly scary….Constantine comes off like a NBC procedural (a case a episode) but they put a “magical” twist on it…thats all. It doesnt feel like its a comic book or anything special like that….and thats why im bored.